The Will of Edward Quartermaine: Closing Walls
by Gillen1962
Summary: The pieces begin to come to together. Sam ponders life without Jason and has a Bronx Encounter. Jerry finally gets punched in the mouth. Sonny talks to a priest. Lucky, Ethan and Robert Talk Holly's family. Lulu and Serena have a moment. We learn who Brooke Bentley is (If you were watching in the late 1960s or early 1970s you already knew)


_The Will of Edward Quartermaine: Closing Walls_

The Priest looked at Sonny and said. "I am sorry, I must have misheard."

Sonny shook his head "No, Father when I first met my son Dante it ended with me shooting him in the chest."

"And how did this occur?"

"Dante is a police officer and he was assigned to go undercover in my operation. At the time he did not know I was his father anymore then I knew he was my son."

"I see."

"Father, you have to understand Dante came to my organization as a mole to gather evidence to have me arrested."

"And that justified shooting him?"

Sonny paced the room. "Justified, no, but it was something he brought upon himself. If I had known that he was my son, if he had not tried to infiltrate my organization then he would not have ended up getting shot."

The Priest folded his hands in front of himself as if in prayer. "Sonny so many of the things that you have done you seem to see yourself as the victim."

"I am Father." Sonny stopped. "I was Deke's victim."

"Sonny if you had not been in the mob, then it is likely you would not have shot your son correct?'

"Yes."

The Priest nodded

Sonny looked at him "Father I am confessing the things I have done."

"I know, Sonny, I know." The Priest said. "Perhaps we should talk about what brought you here."

"My Bipolar disorder grew out of control. I think I may have slowly been building up an immunity to the drugs I was taking."

"Is that what did it?"

"Yes"

The Priest sighed. "So, it had nothing to do with Karen?"

Sonny looked puzzled. "What do you know about that?"

Thomas Hardy made it a point to stop each morning by the picture of his father Steve as he reported to work at General Hospital

He would whisper "Good morning Dad." And head off to his office. This morning he was happy to see his niece Elizabeth approaching as he said his helloes.

"Dr. Hardy can I talk to you for a moment?" She said.

Tom smiled. "Of course, Elizabeth, and we need to drop the Dr. Hardy stuff, I maybe a lousy Uncle but let's try Tom at the least?"

She smiled. "Okay Tom. I wanted to check in with you on the rotation of Epiphany's Student nurses through the Physic wing and was hoping that you could confirm my recommendation of Amy Driscoll as the permanent lead nurse in the ward?"

"Kevin and I are all set for the student nurse rotation, He knows Nurse Driscoll far better than I do, so I am going to leave the final recommendation on that up to him, though I have no objection from what I have seen of her work, and please do not try to play mind games with the psychologist Elizabeth we will both end up with headaches."

Elizabeth smiled. Despite his unconcealed arrogance she found that she liked this man tremendously. He was younger than her Father by more than a decade, but he did share the smile that Elizabeth knew from her father but had seen too rarely. Tom Hardy on the other hand seemed to smile regularly, even when he knew that his arrogance was annoying people, maybe especially when he knew his arrogance was annoying people.

"I'd like to talk to you about Steve,"

Tom looked at the photo of his Grandfather. "You know Steven Lars was his first grandchild? He kept a baby picture of him on his desk."

"I know. That is why what you said to Steve the other day hurt him so much."

"That Grandfather would be disappointed?"

"Yes."

"Liz, Steve Lars is a full-grown man, I am not going to lie to him to spare his feelings."

Serena Baldwin and Brooke Bentley sat outside of Kelly's diner drinking coffee and chatting.

"I just love this idea Ms. Bentley, having the Veterans in our programs interact in an across the curriculum way with the children of your school is amazing."

Brooke smiled. When Asp has sent her here to speak with this girl, she had not wanted to do so, and she certainly did not want to like her. But she did. Serena had the same wide eyed, anything can happen look that her father had when he was a small boy, and Brooke found herself feeling a connection that she had not felt with another human in a long time.

"Yes, Serena, I want the children to interact with the Veterans but not at a show and tell setting. They are not trained dogs or a pet rock, allowing the Vets and the students to work together on various projects to beautify our city, to explore history, to understand civics, in a more natural setting will allow for both sides to really get to know each other."

Serena was captivated. So much so that she did not see her Father Scott Baldwin approach until he was right next to them.

"Hey Honey" He said kissing her on the cheek. "I got that new bike, and we have to get going to Laura's meeting."

Serena looked at her watch. "oh my, yes you are right. That is in less than an hour. "She looked at the woman across from her. "I am so sorry; I have a meeting with the mayor I am supposed to be at."

Scotty looked at the woman as Serena turned to introduce the two. "Under what rock did you slither from and what the hell are you doing to my daughter?"

Scott turned to Serena and grabbed her elbow. "Come on Honey get away from this creature before it's venom gets on you."

Brooke stood up and smiled. "Now Scotty is that anyway to talk to your big sister."

Lucky had to admit he liked the way the Haunted Star was slowly transforming into Luke's Place. He had good memories of the Blues Club his father had run when the family had first returned to Port Charles. Ethan had poured through old family photos courtesy of he and Laura to recreate the place. Lucky paused at a table and felt a stab of sadness

A plaque on a table recreated the plaque that his Father had put on in the original club commemorating where Lucky's late friend Georgie Jones was born, when her mother Felicia went into labor at the club.

Ethan came out from the back room as Lucky ran his hand over the plaque. "I thought that Felicia, Mac and Maxie would like that." He said to his brother.

"I like it. They will love it. You better reserve this for them for opening night."

"Already done."

"The place looks good Ethan." Lucky said.

"Thanks."

"But you did not call me over here to check out the remodeling, did you?"

Ethan motioned Lucky over to the bar and poured his brother a ginger ale.

"I'm working?" Lucky said holding up the glass.

Ethan downed a shot a whiskey. "Yeah I think you are. What do you know about Holly's family the Dunbar's?"

Jaspar Jacks looked at his brother with disbelief. "Joss's life is at stake? What have you done now Jerry?"

"Brother, I did not do anything. What did you people do in removing Sonny?"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh please. I hate that little troll but whatever possessed you and the other self-righteous moral jack asses in this town to remove from his position in organized crime the one monster that has kept your fair city from becoming just another abandoned rust belt opioid hell hole?"

Jax shook his head. "The information that came out concerning Sonny was,."

"Was what brother? Something half of you knew for years, but because it was suddenly in the paper you had to get all self-righteous about it?"

"It's not that simple Jerry."

"No, it is not Jaspar." Jerry snapped. "But my teen age niece, and Alexis' vulnerable daughters are now in a community rapidly filling with drugs."

"All cities deal with drug problems." Jax said slowly.

"Yes, Brother they do, and now that you have removed the block Port Charles had on them, you will need to deal with that. Good Luck with that."

"So, what is it you want?"

"I want you to hear me JAX. The drugs that are coming into Port Charles are a particularly addictive strain of opioids, all of it is horrid, all of it is destructive nature but the Viper Strain that is here in the city right now is unique."

"And how do you know this?" Jax asked knowing the answer.

"Because I made the connection between my current employer and the mob boss who took Sonny's place."

Jax punched Jerry in the mouth.

Sam McCall sat in a diner at Bedford Park Blvd eating what she had to admit was the best Turkey Burger she had ever had. Her coworker at Langaha had recommended the place and she approved.

Sam was scanning her phone looking through the files she had been copying for days. Since she was not looking for anything specific, she had literally taken a photo of every piece of paper that crossed her desk or that she could sneak a shot of.

Far easier to sit here eating a burger a mile from the Langaha headquarters and look through useless papers then to risk getting caught and having her cover blown back at the office. Sam had realized early on that anything she could find out about Langaha to help Michael and ELQ would begin and end with the name of the mysterious head of the corporation. So far though she had gotten nowhere.

She wanted to call Jason, more than almost anything in the world she wanted to call Jason. But she didn't. Their last conversation had been strained. He was not happy that she was in the area even though the two of them were working two entirely different cases.

He also seemed increasingly distant when he called. Not that she was any better. Since his return their relationship had been strained. Major mistakes on Jason's part that had resulted in her nearly being raped had not helped. Worse she had blamed herself. Now as she sat here, she wondered why she had done that? What had she been thinking? No woman ever should blame herself for rape or sexual assault. It does not matter what she did, what she drank, where she was, what she wore, what she said. Rape was a violent assault on her person. Sam had been the near victim. To turn around and apologize to Jason. What was wrong with her?

She thought too of Sonny and Carly, neither of whom she had spoken to in weeks. She wondered for a moment how they were doing, and then realized she did not care. In the recess of her mind the toxicity of the four of them together, with the other three driving the narrative of their lives, of her life, had been destructive. Sam had been appalled when the story of Sonny's history with Karen Wexler had come out. But still she thought that Sonny could change if he wanted to. So could Jason, and Carly and herself. It just seemed that when together they were stuck in an endless cycle of trouble, and danger mostly caused by Sonny somehow.

Even their encounter with Dawn of Day had been driven by Kristina's joining the cult. And truthfully if Sonny and Alexis had been better parents would she have done so?

Sam stopped her musing for a moment and looked again at a file. A diamond company? Out of South Africa?

She checked again. It seemed that a large influx of cash into Langaha had come from a South African Diamond Company named Black Mamba. Another snake. Sam took out her phone and sent Curtis a text

"See if Fer De Lance is funded by a company called Black Mamba out of South Africa."

As Sam took another bite of her burger. Rovena entered the diner. The short order cook greeted her "Hey have not seen you or Alan in a few days."

Rovena smiled. "He is working at both Leka's and Johnny's I am trying to get him to take tonight off and go to see the new Lion King."

"You like that guy, don't you?"

Rovena blushed. "He is really nice."

She sat at the counter and looked at the menu

The cook smiled at her and said. "He does seem nice but be careful little one. He is American, they will always break your heart."

Sam heard the conversation and saw the sad look on the girl's face. She got up and said to the counter guy "Hey can I get another Milk Shake? These are slamming."

"Sure thing."

Sam leaned over and half whispered to the girl "They will all break your heart, sweetie, the question is will they stick around to fix it."

Rovena smiled. "I think he will. He seems the stable type."

Sam laughed. "Then hang on to him. As long as he puts you first. Then he is worth it."

Sam sat back down as the girl beamed. Sam wondered if there would be a day when Jason would put her first before Sonny and Carly.

Ned Quartermaine knocked on the door of Michael's office. Michael picked his head up and grinning. Ned smiled and said. "Are we still annoyed at each other?"

Michael got up and shook Ned's hand. "Unless we want to rerun Alan and Tracy or you and AJ, we better not be."

"I danced that dance kid; it gets boring after a while. I should not have kept Grandfather's secret. I am sorry."

Michael nodded. "And you were right I should have done due diligence. Sometimes I take for granted how much this was all handed to me on a silver platter."

"You work hard all the time. No one gave you a platter Michael."

The two men stood in that awkward way men do when they have to deal with emotions. Finally, Ned said. "I have gathered all the Morgan Development Files for Annie, and left copies of them in the conference room for you."

Michael smirked. "Annie"

"Stop. I had no idea who she was. I wasn't married, it was an Eddie reunion concert." Ned stopped and laughed. "And she is cute."

The two men laughed, then Ned turned serious. "We do need to talk about the elephant in the room, or rather the snake."

"And that is?" Michael said.

"When we began looking at these companies, we talked about how it seemed as if some one who knew all of Grandfather's secrets was involved."

Michael nodded.

"Clearly it was not you or I, we eliminated my Mother. AJ is, apparently, because God only knows around here, still dead. And we thought that was everybody."

Michael sat down behind his desk and looked up at Ned. "But if Alexandria's body is missing from Cassadine Island?"

"Michael, in a normal world it would be impossible. But around here where Long lost twins pop up every thirty days, and coming back from the dead is as common as a BLT at Kelly's?"

"We have to accept the possibility that the person behind the attacks on ELQ, is Alexandria." Michael said.

Ned nodded. He shook his head. "If it is, we have a major problem."

"Sure, she knows all of Grandfather's secrets, knows where every body the family has is buried. "Michael said.

"It is far worse than that Michael." Ned said. "I will admit something to you that I would never say to your father. "

"What's that?"

"Alexandria is better at this then you, then me. Hell, she may be better than Grandfather."

Lulu Falconeri smiled across the desk at her mother, Mayor Laura Webber-Collins. "So, then this Jenny Hutchinson called me and offer me a scholarship for the kids."

Laura smiled at her daughter. The welcome break before her budget meeting was delightful.

"Really?" Laura said. "Are you taking it?"

"I can't, Peter would have no choice but to fire me. It is a clear conflict of interest."

"What made you make the leap to her being Hutch's niece?" Laura asked.

"I have seen a few pictures of Hutch over the years, and he is one of the few people that Dad spoke of with respect."

"Hutch spent a lot of time trying to kill your father and I, he was shot by Sally at the Statue of the Left-Handed Boy. Rose Kelly nursed him back to health and he vanished. Years later I heard he had turned himself in for the murder of Vic Gower in Beaches Corners. I think you father may have reached out to him once or twice. I do not know if he ever got out. Your Father may know. "

"Dad?"

Laura laughed. "You would be surprised, for a man who prides himself on being a loner, your father has always kept an eye on certain people, Robert, Joe Kelly, and Sonny come to mind." Laura said.

Lulu was surprised.

Laura enjoyed showing her daughter a new side of her father and revealed along kept secret. "Honey, he even keeps an eye on Spinelli."

"Spinelli? Why? They were not close."

"No but don't you know that Spinelli's grandfather was Luke's cab driver friend Slick?"

"No!"

Laura laughed. "Yes. In the long run Port Charles is a small town."

Lulu smiled and asked. "Okay then who is Brooke Bentley? Some how that name means something."

Laura sat back in her chair. "Hmm Brooke is not ringing any bells, but Bentley was Scotty's Father's name."

"Dad" Serena said. "Ms. Bentley? What are you guys talking about?"

Scotty jerked his head up and scoffed at Brooke. "Serena, this is my birth Father Lloyd Bentley's daughter Brooke."

"Your big sister, Scott."

"Half Sister" Scott said looking at Serena.

"How did I not know you had a half-sister?"

"Lloyd Bentley died while my mother was pregnant with me. Lee was my Father."

"Serena, I must apologize for not explaining who I was. I assumed Scott had never mentioned me and wanted our arrangement to be based on its merits not on the fact that we are family."

"You are not her family!" Scott snapped.

"Dad, calm down you will have a stroke." Serena said. "What are you so angry at?"

Scotty all but sputtered. "My Mother was engaged to a man named Noel Clinton. Nice Guy. Brooke here said she didn't like him. Who she really did not like was my Mother, who was her stepmother mind you, she pulled a Carly on Noel!"

Both women look at Scott not understanding.

"She seduced Noel. Broke my mother's heart."

Brooke smiled softly. "And made you a Baldwin little brother. Scotty Clinton just doesn't have a ring does it?"

Serena looked at her watch. "Frankly we do not have the time for this right now. We need to get to this meeting Dad. Ms. Bentley…" Serena Stopped. "Aunt Brooke? …. Never mind…I am still very interested in talking to you concerning the project for the children. Text me and let's meet again."

"Text her from another country why don't you?" Scotty bellowed as Serena dragged him away

"Have a nice day Little brother."

Brooke laughed. She had not wanted a confrontation with Scotty. Or for Serena to find out who she was. But darn if she did find the whole thing amusing. Who knew that her little brother would grow up to be such a blow heart?

Robert Scorpio strolled on to the Haunted Star with a broad smile. "Well look at this place, early New Orleans Brothel I believe."

"Thanks Robert." Ethan said.

Robert shook hands with Lucky and took a seat at the bar. "Anna says she will be back in town tomorrow, and Robin and Patrick say hello, to both of you."

Ethan poured Robert a drink which he took thankfully. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting with the Spencer Boys?"

"My cousin Sinclair dropped by for a chat" Ethan said.

"Sinclair? Sinclair Dunbar?' Robert said. "That creep is in town?"

"Apparently and he suggest I leave town."

"Why?"

Lucky twirled his glass on the bar top. "Apparently the Dunbar's have something up their sleeve."

Laura and Lulu were wrapping up their break when Serena and Scotty knocked on her office door.

"Serena!" Laura shouted. "Oh, I have been so meaning to call you."

The two women hugged.

Lulu smiled weakly at Serena who returned the same weak smile. When the Army Captain turned her head slightly Lulu stuck out her tongue.

"I am so glad that you are back in town. And the project your working on is so special for our community."

Serena grinned broadly. However, she may feel about Lulu, there was no denying that Laura was a wonderful woman. "Thank you. I meant to call you as well, and Kevin. I have not even seen Kevin."

Laura nodded her head. "He thinks you may be mad at him over Livvie."

Serena gasped. "Oh God no. I thought he may be mad at me."

"I'm mad at Kevin" Scotty quipped.

"You are always mad at Kevin, Scotty" Laura said smiling at her ex-husband.

Lulu let out a breath. "Well since no one is mad at any one I need to get back to work"

She shook hands with Scotty and gave her Mother a hug,

Lulu started to shake Serena's hand, but the Army Captain opened her arms. "Come on Bring it in, we are practically stepsisters at this point."

As Lulu allowed Serena to hug her, Serena whispered in Lulu's ear. "I'm still mad about Logan, just so you know."

The girls broke their embrace and exchanged air kisses.

Deep underneath General Hospital, Valentin Cassadine, his niece Molly and her boyfriend TJ, came to a blocked entrance way in a cave.

"Mr. Cassadine, thank you so much for letting me tag along. This is amazing."

Valentin smiled. "TJ, I appreciate you being here to protect Molly." He looked at his watch. "Especially since I need to head back top side for a meeting next door with the Mayor. "

"We can clear this area Uncle and then we will be in the lab."

Valentin nodded. "Molly I want you to listen to me very carefully. You and TJ clear this debris away and open Helena's lab. But do not touch anything until I get back down here. Am I clear?"

Molly picked up a piece of wreckage and moved it "Yes Uncle."

Valentin did not believe her for one moment. He turned to TJ. "Young Mister Ashford, if she disobeys me, I will forgive you if you break her legs to stop her."

TJ grinned but Valentin remains serious "However if she gets hurt because you do not stop her, I will never forgive you and I will curse you and all who bare your name. You understand young man?"

"Yessir." TJ answered seriously

Tom Hardy sat with his niece Elizabeth on the windowsill of he 4th floor of General Hospital. "He just seems so much angrier" Elizabeth said to him, referring to her brother Steve Lars.

Tom shook his head. "I don't know either of you well, and I make no excuse for that, but yes he did seem pretty upset the other day at the house."

Liz nodded. "Not that you helped by the way."

Tom chuckled. "Yeah I know. My ex-wife Simone once told me that the "Worse thing about you is not that you are arrogant and obnoxious, the worst thing is you know you are and enjoy it.'"

Elizabeth laughed. "She was right."

"Steven certainly has the Hardy self-assurance." Tom said.

"Yes, he has always had, that. You should get to know Sarah she is even worse. But with Steven now that he has come home it is different."

"The arrogant part of me, wants to tell you not to worry, so that he self-destructs, and I get my Father's seat."

"You are too good a doctor to do that." Elizabeth said with a sly smile.

"And you are far to clever by half little girl feeding my ego to get me on your side."

"Did it work?"

Tom Scoffed but said. "Prison changes people. There is no possible way to go through the experience of incarceration in the prison industrial complex and not come out changed."

"Will he get better?" Elizabeth said.

Tom shook his head. "I don't know what better is, Elizabeth, most people in the mental health field would tell you that 'better' is a very relative term."

"I am afraid he is going to hurt himself or hurt somebody if he does not get his temper in control."

"Ex-Convicts often suffer from PTSD, have you thought of talking to Dr. Al-Fayheed? I know she is not a psychologist but truthfully she is a leading expert on PTSD."

"I thought maybe a psychologist was better."

"For him yes." Tom said "But this is you talking to me. Not him. I assume he will never speak to me about it and it is unlikely he will talk to Kevin. Therefore, right now the person who needs help is you."

Elizabeth looked sad but nodded slowly. Tom went on. "And while you could talk to Kevin, what you need most is information, and the best source of information right now in town is Dr. Al-Fayheed."

Liz gave him a weak grin. "Maybe it is time I called Soumia and we went for some coffee."

"That sounds like a good idea Elizabeth."

Elizabeth had taken a few steps away when Tom said. "Liz?"

She turned around and he walked over to her. "I know that I have been a lousy Uncle, but I had dinner with my Mother last night, and all Audrey could talk about was you, and the boys and how proud she is of you, and how wonderful they are."

"Grams is pretty special herself."

"Yes, she is Elizabeth, but she is getting older and I have been away for far too long. I want to thank you for making her golden years so filled with love. "

Elizabeth teared up. "We love her so much, the boys, me, Franco thinks she is a hoot."

"Does anyone know what a hoot is?" Tom said smiling. Then he put his hands on his niece's shoulders. "Look what I am trying to say is that we Hardy's have not done family well these last years. I didn't come back to Port Charles just to become Chief of Staff, well maybe I did. But now that I am here. I want to change where our family has been heading."

Elizabeth nodded. "Would you like to bring Gran over for Sunday dinner?"

Tom Hardy nodded and smiled wide. "Why Yes Elizabeth I think Mother and I would enjoy that very very much."

Jerry Jacks wiped the side of his mouth and looked at his brother. "Okay I likely deserved that one. But brother I did not cause this problem in your city."

"No, you just exploited it."

Jerry sighed. "That Jaspar is what I do."

The brothers Jax stood staring at each other for a long moment. Finally, Jax said. "Stay here, or at my suite at the Metro Court, I trust you can get in and out without being detected. I have a meeting with the Mayor that Mac will be at. I will speak to him afterward."

"Thank you."

"Jerry you will tell him all he needs to know to stop these drugs from coming in."

"I will tell him all I know brother." Jerry said.

Jax turned and left. Jerry sat behind Jax's desk and mused. "I will tell you all I know Jax, but the problem is no one but Asp knows her whole plan."

Sam was on her second burger and third milk shake when Curtis finally texted her back

"Fer De Lance and since I am good that way, Bushwhacker and Copperhead, are all funded by Black Mamba Diamond Company."

"Well Hot damn." Sam Texted back. "Do we have a name on the owner?"

"A phony one. Nothing about the name checks out. "

"What is the name"

"Crane Toliver."

Sam sat back in the booth

"That is the name of the man who killed Jason and Drew's mother. It was also the name AJ used as an alias."

"So, is this AJ?" Curtis texted back.

"I don't know."

Father Michael looked at Sonny and sadly shook his head. "Sonny, the accusations were in all the papers, do you have anything to confess regarding them."

"No."

The priest stood up. "Then truthfully and respectfully Sonny, why am I here?"

"To hear my confession." Sonny snapped.

"To what? So far you have not admitted a single sin. You have given me the unspecific, terms of lying and cheating but you have not looked into your soul and confessed a single thing Sonny."

"Father" Sonny said sitting down. He pointed the priest to the other chair. Sonny sat with his hands covering his face.

"She was beautiful father, and innocent and…" Sonny stopped.

"And?"

"Father I love Carly, my wife. I loved Brenda."

"I am sure you did." The Priest said. "Are you saying you loved Karen?"

Sonny shook his head. "No. No. But her innocence. The only other time in my life I ever saw that kind of innocence in a person. That kind of goodness was with my wife Lilly. And her I loved"

"But Karen.?"

"I hated her."

"Why?"

"Because she was good. Because she was brave. Because she had taken ever thing that Ray had done to her, all the abuse, all the pain all of it, and she had come out the other side as a good person. "

"And you had not?"

"I had done what I needed to in order to survive."

"And you resented her for not resorting to the same tactics?"

"Yes." Sonny looked away. "As soon as I knew her story, as soon as I knew what she had gone through. I had to destroy her. "

He stopped and paced around the room "Father, I don't think I did this intentionally. It was not like I was thinking about it when I did it. I swear when it was going on, I really thought I was helping her. I really thought that I was showing her a way to get past what had happened to her."

"Your way."

"Yes."

"And that began the pattern did it not Sonny, that your way to handle a problem became the only right way to handle a problem?"

"It is." Sonny said. "It…. I thought it was,"

The priest nodded.

"I hurt her. It was no one's fault but mine."

"Years later when you met Lilly, you did not try to destroy her innocence did you?"

"No."

"Why?"

"She…she was my second chance. My chance to do right what I had done wrong with Karen."

"And then she and your son were killed?"

"Yes."

"Not buy you?"

Sonny winced. "Buy her father. "

"Why?"

"Because he thought I was going to leave her for Brenda."

"Were you?"

Sonny paced around the room. "I …. No..not once I found out she was having our child. No."

"But she died."

"Yes"

"Because of your world."

"Yes"

"So, you destroyed her innocence as well?"

"Yes."

"And Brenda wore a wire because your world scared her. She was almost killed while taking a shower. Brenda may not have the same kind of innocence as Lilly but still."

"Yes"

"Later there was a bomb in her car on your wedding day wasn't there?"

"Yes"

"Just like Lilly?"

"Yes."

The priest looked at Sonny. "Sonny do you know the difference between Forgiveness and Penance?"

"No."

"Forgiveness is what others, even the Lord, gives you to absolve you from your sins. And In the name of the Father and of The Son and of The Holy Spirit, Michael Corinthos I absolve you of your sins."

Sonny blessed himself.

"Penance though Sonny is what we do to forgive ourselves."

"What is my Penance, Then father."

The Priest stood up and took Sonny's hand standing him up as well.

"Call me Michael, Dad. That is what Lilly planned to name me."

Sonny stepped back. His eyes widen.

The Priest Changed into Karen Who smiled at Sonny. "Well you have been forgiven, but Sonny forgiveness without Penance is meaningless. Still It was good to hear you admit that you hurt me. I forgive you. Not for you. But for me. "

"Are you leaving?"

Karen nodded. "Yes Sonny, I was here till you were ready to accept my forgiveness, but I have nothing to do with your penance. That is how you become the better man that you always wanted to be, and that is simply not something I can be part of."

"So, I will be alone?" Sonny said his voice pleading. "Don't go. I can't do this alone."

Sonny collapsed on the bed crying

Karen faded and Lilly Appeared.

It is okay Sonny, I will be here, for your Penance."


End file.
